STILLWATER — The blood dripping from the half-inch gash on the bridge of Zach Hill's nose was a perfect example of the kind of brawl the Class 3A state championship football game was for Blanchard and Kingfisher on Friday night.

Of course, Hill's injury was sustained during Blanchard's wild championship celebration after a 28-21 win at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“When I was holding up the trophy, somebody hit me with their helmet,” Hill said with a championship smile that couldn't be washed away by a little blood. “Hit me pretty good, too.”

Hill and his teammates took Blanchard (13-1) back to the top of the football mountain for the first time since 1979, the team's only other appearance in the state finals.

“I can't even describe how amazing this feels,” Hill said. “We kept fighting. We fought all year like this. To get tied up, and come right back and get it, it just proves that we'll keep fighting.

“Even after our loss to Tuttle, we came back fighting. We kept fighting all year.”

Blanchard's fight showed in its defense, which was on the field for 74 of the game's 112 snaps, including multiple long, grinding drives by Kingfisher.

The Lions' fight showed in their responses time and again when Kingfisher would strike.

After Kingfisher scored late in the second quarter to tie the game, Blanchard's Braden Bush sparked a scoring drive with a 50-yard kickoff return, and five plays later, Brock Lamle capped it with a 13-yard pass to Parker Randels on fourth-and-8.

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A lifelong resident of the Oklahoma City metro area, Scott Wright has been on The Oklahoman staff since 2005, covering a little bit of everything on the state's sports scene. He has been a beat writer for football and basketball at Oklahoma and...